CHEM 294

CHEMISTRY SEMINAR
Overview and Tips for Student
Presentations
 Handouts
► Course Syllabus
► Seminar Evaluation Handout
► Preliminary Seminar Schedule
 Course Materials
►I plan to add a Chem 294 website linked to
my faculty website
► This should have links to the seminar
schedule (which will be updated)
► This will also have links to handouts
► I also plan on having a page on steps to
prepare for a literature seminar
 Seminar Overview
► Types of Seminars
 MS student literature seminars
 Research seminars
 Other seminars (career seminars, undergraduate seminars)

► Attendance Requirement:
 15 Seminar Dates (including today’s and assuming no cancelled
seminars)
 You must attend 12 seminars (sign attendance list) – unless
seminars are cancelled
 Seminar Overview
► Grading: Credit/No Credit
 Based on attendance
 Students giving a literature seminar must exceed a minimum evaluation
score

► Literature Seminar:
 Tips on how to plan and give seminar given later
 The seminar can not be given the same semester as your Thesis Research
Seminar
 I would advise students to give their literature seminar in their second or
third semesters
 Must make sign up deadline (for Fall, ~ Aug. 1)
 Seminar Overview
- My Expectations
► Show up on time; don’t leave early

► Pay attention to speaker

► Please, no distractions during seminar

► Student seminars: Be committed

 Seminar Schedule –
Tentative Schedule

► See Handout
Some Tips on Giving a
Literature Seminar
Presentation by Roy Dixon
Chem. 294 Organizational Meeting
 Overview
► Introduction

► How to Select the Topic and Get Information

► How to Organize the Information
► How to Prepare a Professional Seminar
► Practice Makes Perfect
► Seminar Day
► Summary
 Introduction
► Public speaking is an important skill
► Perceive literature seminar as an opportunity
► Your scientific reputation depends on the quality of
your presentations
►A guide to giving presentations will be posted on
the course website
(http://www.csus.edu/indiv/d/dixonr/C294/C294.htm) (not
yet set up)
 Introduction - continued
► Sources of Help:
 Your Research Advisor
 Seminar Coordinator (me)
 Fellow Graduate Students
 The Graduate Advisor
 Professors That Work in Seminar Field
 Introduction - Timeline
Time Tasks to Complete

Semester Before Choose general topic area, preliminary literature

Seminar search, produce title and abstract
6 Weeks Before Complete literature search, read main articles,
obtain background literature
4 Weeks Before Complete all reading, organize material, choose
title for talk
2 Weeks Before Complete detailed talk outline, prepare graphical
information
1 Week Before Complete slides for talk, send abstract to
Seminar Coordinator
 Topic Selection
► The topic must be in a different area than the
thesis topic
 Example: a student whose thesis research is on using
an HPLC method to analyze atmospheric aerosols
should not cover HPLC methodology or atmospheric
aerosols
 The less related the topic is to your thesis research, the
more you can expect to learn.
 Topic Selection – Continued

► Topic should be in a chemistry, biochemistry, or applied

chemistry area.
► The topic should be in a significant area and of recent
concern.
► A good source of new and significant research is Chemical
and Engineering News (especially Science and Technology
Concentrates).
► Other sources are review articles, Nature, JACS, Science,
Scientific American, etc.
 Topic Selection – Continued

► The topic material should be of proper breadth and depth

► Topic area should have at least 10 publications in scientific
journals
► Examples:
 Microchip capillary electrophoresis is too broad
 Application of microchip capillary electrophoresis to the analysis of
banana slug trail chemicals is too narrow
 Application of microchip capillary electrophoresis to the analysis of
various types of mucous may be better
How to Get Information on the Topic

► Learn to use Scifinder/Chem Abstracts

► Pick up the key words to enter into a search
► Read books and review articles to enhance your
understanding of the topic area
► Check references of papers
► I would recommend 2 to 3 review articles or books, ~3
main articles to focus on, and ~10 general field research
articles (to enhance understanding of concepts)
 Organization of Material
► A traditional scientific presentation will be organized as
follows:
 Overview
 Introduction (background and objectives)
 Methods (description of experiments)
 Results and Discussion (what did the experiments show and what
are the implications)
 Conclusions and Future directions
 Acknowledgements
 Organization of Material - continued

► In preparing materials, you need to:

 Understand the main concepts (both in the
papers and in background material)
 Be able to explain the concepts to the audience

► Selectsome specific examples and graphics

to use in making slides
 Tips on Seminar Preparation
Textual vs. Graphical
► Studies of interpersonal
communications show Sources of Concept Transfer
that: 60
 55% comes from facial

Category Percentage
50

expressions and body 40

language 30
20
 38% comes from vocal 10
quality or tone of voice 0

 7% comes from content,

facial vocal quality content
expression/body

the actual meaning of the

language

words
From “Scientifically Speaking”, The Oceanography Society
 Tips on Seminar Preparation
Preparation of Slides

► Aim for one to four concepts per slide

► No more than 2 figures per slide
► Assume you will spend about one to two
minutes per slide
►Isuggest preparing a few “extra” slides that
can be removed
 Tips on Seminar Preparation
DOs and DO NOTs - 1
► Make sure the font is large enough to be read from back of room

► Proofredslides –mistakees ar embarrassing

► BE Consistent about fonts and capitalization
Don’t have slides cluttered with text
boxes in the wrong places
► Test animation sequence; don’t abuse
animation features
► remove long superfluous sentences or words that
Keep it simple, edit for brevity
detract from the slide, especially ones that ramble
on and on and on because anyone who reads
them won’t be paying attention to what you say
 Tips on Seminar Preparation
DOs and DO NOTs - 2
Improved Figure
► Check figure quality
What an exciting figure and data table
► Avoid data tables on aerosol composition!!
► Highlight important
parts of complicated
figures
► Have someone else
review your slides
► Reference borrowed
material

Oops, from Schauer and Cass, ES&T, 2000

 Practice Makes Perfect
► Figure out what you want to say for each slide

► Figure out how to use the technology available

► Have someone point out any annoying nervous

habits you have

► Practice with actual equipment and keep track of

time
 Seminar Day
► Dress appropriately
► Make sure the technology is available and
ready with plenty of time to spare
► Look at audience, not at slides
► Be prepared to answer questions
 Summary
► Viewthe seminar as a learning opportunity
(both on the topic and on giving seminars)

► Makeyourself comfortable with your subject

and with your presentation

► Give
yourself enough time to make
improvements
 Acknowledgements
►Iwant to thank past audiences who had to
put up with some of my “learning
experiences”